Invaders from Mars (1986)
'}} | running time = 100 min. | country = USA | language = English | budget = $12,000,000 | gross revenue = $4,884,663 (US) | preceded by = | followed by = }} Invaders from Mars is an American science fiction/horror film directed by Tobe Hooper. It is a remake of the 1953 film Invaders from Mars, directed by William Cameron Menzies. It was produced by Canon Pictures and released theatrically in the United States on June 6th, 1986. The movie stars Hunter Carson as David Gardner, a young boy who learns that aliens from the planet Mars have come to Earth and are taking control of the minds of the town's parents. Cast Notes & Trivia * The tagline for this film is "It's open season... on Earthlings!" * Production on Invaders from Mars began on July 10th, 1985 and concluded on November 20th, 1985. * Tobe Hooper is more famously known for directing the 1974 slasher film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. He also directed Eaten Alive, Poltergeist, Night Terrors and The Mangler. * Invaders from Mars grossed $2,046,576 over it's opening weekend. * The German version of the film has an alternate ending from that of the US release. In order to avoid the twist ending of the original, the movie cuts from the moment that the space ship explodes (where in the original US version the film cuts to David awaking, starting the twist ending) immediately to the credits. * UK prints of the film excised one minute of footage where the invaders are show drilling screws into the necks of their brainwashed victims. * Jimmy Hunt, who plays the police chief in this film played young David Gardner in the original Invaders from Mars. * Actual United States Marines from the 4th FAAD Battery were used in this film. * Hunter Carson is the son of Karen Black and L.M. Kit Carson. * In the scene where actress Laraine Newman's and actor Timothy Bottoms's necks explode, the sparks caught the actress' hair on fire and singed a large part of it. She did not realize this until afterwards. IMDB; Invaders from Mars; Trivia * Wade Williams had acquired the rights to Invaders from Mars (1953). For the remake rights, Williams received over 50 times the amount he had paid. Williams had already made a very handsome profit from the original film from television, cable and video releases. IMDB; Invaders from Mars; Trivia * Near the beginning of the film the parents are getting David Gardner ready for bad and start shuffling things around his bedroom. The father picks up a magazine and starts to read it. The magazine was a late 70's slick fanzine called Fantascene. That issue had a very fine article on the making of the original Invaders from Mars. IMDB; Invaders from Mars; Trivia * Louise Fletcher was nominated for a Razzie Award in 1987 for the category of Worst Supporting Actress. John Dykstra and Stan Winston were also nominated in the categories of Worst Visual Effects (special effects and creature design). * Daniel Pearl was also Tobe Hooper's director of photography on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. * Dan O'Bannon is more famously known for conceptualizing the 1979 sci-fi/horror film Alien. Home Video * Invaders from Mars was released on laserdisc in early 1996. * It was first released to DVD on January 20th, 1998 by Anchor Bay Entertainment. * It was re-issued by MGM/United Artists on August 28th, 2001. * Invaders from Mars was also packaged with the 1983 film Strange Invaders as a "Midnight Movies" DVD double-feature on February 15th, 2005. The collection was produced by MGM Home Video. Recommendations Alien possession films * Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) * Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) * Village of the Damned (1960) * Village of the Damned (1995) * The Faculty (1998) Alien invasion films * * * * * Tobe Hooper films * The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)'' * Eaten Alive (1977) * Salem's Lot (1979) * Poltergeist (1982) * Lifeforce (1985) External Links * * * Invaders from Mars at Wikipedia * Invaders from Mars at the Holosuite * * References ---- Category:1986 films Category:Canon Pictures Category:Remakes Category:Karen Black Category:Phil Fondacaro